How many times have all of us gotten that bright idea, mapped it out in our minds or on paper and then watched in horror as its real-life execution goes terribly wrong?

When it’s a romantic dinner or a driving shortcut, all that’s lost in the process is a little dignity. When it’s an entire ward in a pediatric hospital, the stakes are higher and the cost could be lives. I’m entirely unashamed to brag, then, that some of our Master of Business Operational Excellence graduates demonstrated their panache for avoiding a situation like that with such innovative aplomb that it garnered them ink in the Akron Beacon Journal.

The article details an effort by MBOE grad Sherry Valentine and others to revamp the NeuroDevelopmental Science Center at ACH to handle more workers and cut down on patient wait times. Instead of taking plans from the blueprint to the contractor, though, Valentine marshaled a cardboard recreation of the proposed overhaul to allow employees to try it out.

A key facet of the revamp was reducing travel time as samples were moved for testing. “When lab staff tried out their initial attempts to renovate the department,” according to the article, “they discovered the changes left too little space in their work areas.”

“Sometimes, the teams have found what looks good on paper doesn’t work in real life,” according to the article.

From a lean perspective, a couple of teachable moments are at work here. In its own creative way, this mock-up operation is a kind of gemba, where management and workers can immerse themselves on the ground floor instead of a bird’s-eye view. The article also mentions that the simulation “allows the team members who will be doing to the work to be involved with designing their workplace.” Is there a better example of a no-blame, shared-responsibility culture than that?

Valentine tells the paper it’s unusual in the health-care sector for an entire mock-up to be created before construction begins. With change agents like her applying what they’ve learned at Fisher, that might not be for long.